Protective Shelters

'Natural and sympathetic looking' – this was the instruction by a local council to Israeli artist Eliasaf Myara to embellish dozens of new air-raid shelters on the Israeli border to Gaza. The Israeli Defense Ministry ordered the building of hundreds of small concrete protective shelters in all towns located near the Gaza Strip to protect its citizens from incoming rockets.

July 08, 2015 will mark the first anniversary of the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, also known as Operation Protective Edge. The armed conflict lasted 51 days and claimed the lives of about 2,203 Palestinians, 67 Israeli soldiers and 5 Israeli civilians, according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The Palestinian Islamic organization Hamas reportedly fired more than 5,000 rockets at Israeli territory and the Israeli Air Force carried out over 6,000 airstrikes. A 22 June 2015 report released by an United Nations’ investigative panel has accused both Israel and Palestinian armed groups of possible war crimes during 2014 Gaza conflict.

The year 2015 also sees Israel marking ten years since the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005.